CLINICAL SPECIALIST @ Saint Francis Hospice

Job summary

An opportunity has arisen for a dynamic, enthusiastic, self-motivated, experienced Clinician, with good clinical palliative care knowledge base, to join our well-established Hospice Community Team as a Clinical Specialist. The Clinical Specialist will provide specialist palliative and end of life care assessment , advice and support for people, families, carers and professionals across community settings. The Clinical Specialist will work as an autonomous practitioner as a core part of the hospice multidisciplinary team, providing timely decision-making, effective symptom management, crisis response and coordinated care for people with complex palliative care needs. This post will provide varied senior experience in a multidisciplinary working environment delivering a 24/7 service to individuals, carers and other health care professionals across the community.

Main duties of the job

We are a progressive, creative team, with a strong ethos, working in collaboration with our external place-based partners, enabling and encouraging access to palliative and end of life care.

With the launch of the hospice 5- year strategy and ranked Outstanding by Care Quality Commissioners, there is not a better time to join our experienced & skilled specialist palliative care service, providing excellent, compassionate care to individuals and their loved ones across all residential community settings.

The varying role includes home, onsite or virtual face to face visits and telephone contact assessments. Embracing diversity and always forward thinking, with the ability to travel across the boroughs of Brentwood, Havering, Barking and Dagenham having the use of own car is essential.

If you feel you meet the criteria and you want a job where you matter and contribute fully to the team working: offering reflective practice, monthly supervision and annual appraisal, along with educational opportunities, free car parking, access to Orange Cafe this might be the job for you.

We are looking for a candidate who is working at a senior level and has excellent communication, assessment and prioritisation skills, and understands the needs of those receiving palliative and end of life care, a working knowledge of evidence -based practice and the ability to develop a good knowledge base of current initiatives and developments in palliative care.

About us

We are a dynamic, forward thinking organisation delivering a full range of specialist palliative care services for individuals & their loved ones with palliative or end of life care needs. We achieved Outstanding in our CQC inspection & have reconfigured our services to meet the changing needs of our local community. We support 5 Clinical Commissioning Groups & have a robust governance structure in place. We provide ward clinical services within a modern, personal & friendly 18-bedded unit, as well as Specialist Community Crisis Support Service, Hospice at Home Service & Specialist Day Therapy Service. We also have the hospice Pepperell Education Centre that has an excellent reputation for delivering high quality education programmes and study days.

All communication regarding your application including invitations to interviews will be sent to the email address you have stated on your application form, if you could also provide a contact telephone number as well.

Saint Francis Hospice is a charity based in the UK. We will require all successful candidates to be able to provide documentary ID proof of their Right to Work in the UK. We are not a Licensed Sponsor, so are unable to provide sponsorship to support applicants applying from outside of the UK.

Please note that we are a charity & not part of an NHS Trust & we are situated in a quiet location in the village of Havering-atte-Bower, outskirts of Romford, therefore please consider our location when applying.

Job description

Job responsibilities

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Clinical practice and assessment

• Act as a first point of specialist clinical advice for new referrals and re-referrals, completing holistic assessments and providing clear, timely documentation.
• Undertake specialist assessments in peoples homes, hospice clinics and outreach settings, using clinical judgement to identify risk, complexity and priority.
• Provide expert advice on complex symptom management, palliative care emergencies and the safe evaluation of treatment plans.
• Support people, families and carers with clear information, compassionate communication and timely access to hospice and bereavement support.
• Administer prescribed subcutaneous medication in urgent situations where this is clinically indicated, authorised and within competence.
• Provide timely and within scope of (palliative) practice prescriptions in crisis scenarios (if NMP), and effective liaison with the GP as core prescriber to ensure their ongoing, informed, up to date repeat prescribing and their timely provision of non-urgent prescriptions.

Advice line, crisis response and on-call

• Provide responsive specialist telephone assessment, advice and support through the Specialist Advice Line.
• Use triage and clinical decision-making skills to support rapid access, crisis response and appropriate face-to-face visiting.
• Contribute to the community on-call rota, including out-of-hours, weekend and bank holiday cover.
• Work safely when remote working, lone working or responding urgently, maintaining confidentiality and following hospice policy.

Multidisciplinary working and communication

• Work collaboratively across hospice, primary care, community, acute and social care services to support joined-up care.
• Share relevant clinical information clearly and appropriately to support safe care planning, escalation and continuity.
• Contribute specialist palliative care expertise to internal and external multidisciplinary meetings.
• Use advanced communication skills to support shared decision-making with people, families, carers and professionals.

Leadership, governance and service development

• Support continuous improvement in community palliative care, aligned to hospice strategy, local system priorities and relevant national guidance.
• Lead or contribute to audit, clinical governance, incident learning, policy development and pathway improvement.
• Maintain high-quality written and electronic records, including service activity, incident reporting and clinical documentation.
• Manage own workload effectively and contribute to safe caseload oversight, prioritising referrals, advice requests and crisis response.
• Role model compassionate, inclusive and collaborative practice in line with hospice values.

Education, learning and professional development

• Contribute to palliative and end of life care education for nursing, medical, allied health and wider professional groups.
• Act as a visible resource, mentor and role model for colleagues, students and new team members.
• Maintain professional registration and keep clinical knowledge, prescribing practice and specialist skills up to date.
• Participate in appraisal, supervision, reflective practice, learning opportunities and evidence-based service development.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF POSTHOLDER

• SENSITIVITY AND PROFESSIONALISM: As an employee of Saint Francis Hospice you should expect that it is likely that you will come into contact with individuals in our care, their loved ones and members of the public who are at the end of life or recently bereaved. All employees are expected to respond to people recounting and expressing their emotions about such events with sensitivity and understanding, and to know enough about the services that the Hospice provides to be able to signpost people who may benefit from our services to the relevant contacts. CONFIDENTIALITY: The post holder must maintain confidentiality, security and integrity of information relating to individuals and their loved ones, staff and other hospice matter during the course of duty. Any breach of Confidentiality may become a disciplinary issue. DATA PROTECTION: It is the responsibility of all staff to be aware of their obligations in respect of the Data Protection Act 2018. EQUAL OPPORTUNITES: The hospice is committed to the development of positive policies to promote equal opportunity in employment and has a clear commitment to equal opportunities. All employees have a responsibility to ensure that they understand the standards expected and that they promote and adhere to the equal opportunity measures adopted by the hospice. HEALTH AND SAFETY: All staff must be familiar with section 2 of the Health & Safety Policy, Organisation of Health and Safety. This document sets out the responsibilities of all staff for health and safety, whether in a supervisory capacity or not. Policy section 3 (arrangements for Health and Safety) provides an overview of training for competence in Health and Safety matters. HOSPICE IDENTITY BADGES: Hospice ID badges must be worn at all times whilst on duty. SMOKING: The hospice acknowledges its responsibility to provide a safe, smoke free environment, for its employees, service users and visitors. Smoking is therefore not permitted at any point whilst on duty, in accordance with the guidelines set down within the Hospice No Smoking Policy. REGISTRATION COMPLIANCE/CODE OF CONDUCT: All employees who are required to register with a professional body to enable them to practice within their profession are required to comply with their code of conduct and requirements of their professional registration. WORKING TIME REGULATIONS: The Working Time Regulations 1998 require that you should not work more than an average of 48 hours in each week. For example, in a 26 week period you should work no more than 1248 hours.

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

• Significant post-registration experience in palliative care, end of life care or a related specialty, including autonomous assessment and multidisciplinary working.

Skills/Abilities/Knowledge

Essential

• Ability to work autonomously and collaboratively across hospice, primary care, community and acute multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong knowledge of symptom control, complex decision-making, risk assessment, crisis response and safe care coordination.
• Compassionate, inclusive and confident communicator able to support people, families, carers and professionals in complex or sensitive situations.

Other Requirements

Essential

• Flexible, organised and digitally confident, with the ability to prioritise workload, contribute to service improvement and work across a 24/7 rota where required.

Demonstrating the Hospice Values - Collaborative, Compassionate, Creative

Essential

• Compassionate we are a caring team, kind to each other and put the needs of individuals and their loved ones at the heart of what we do.
• Collaborative we value working in partnership across our communities and are proactive about nurturing relationships with our stakeholders.
• Creative we are forward-thinking, adaptable in our changing world and embrace change and innovative ways of working.

Qualifications

Essential

• Registered nurse or equivalent professional qualification, with relevant palliative care or oncology development and commitment to ongoing professional learning.
• Recognised oncology or palliative care qualification, or equivalent relevant experience.
• Teaching qualification or evidence of teaching, coaching or facilitation experience.
• Non-medical prescribing qualification, or willingness to work towards this.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Saint Francis Hospice

Address

Saint Francis Hospice

The Hall, Broxhill Road

Havering-Atte-Bower

ROMFORD

RM4 1QH

United Kingdom

Employer's website

https://www.sfh.org.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)